Each summer, Women for Healthy Rural Living (WHRL) holds a dual auction–a raffle (which runs in person July 26-27) and an online silent auction (running now through July 28th). The fun thing about the online silent auction is many smaller items can be shipped so you can bid from afar.

I’ve been involved with WHRL for close to 25 year now. The organization does so much for our community–it’s near and dear to my heart. So it’s no surprise that the Bennett family likely to have a hand in creating items for the auction. This year’s art angle is 20 handcrafted wooden trays imagined by area artists and makers–functional art. The idea came to me because when mom was alive and active with her painting, she created similar trays – primitive anges, historic tole-art scenes, and more. When not in use, these trays hang on the wall for display.

Coastal Maine Charm

Hannah adopted a tray and found an image to use for inspiration. This is not your everyday collage–she painted watercolor paper and then tore those into little pieces to craft this coastal Maine scene. She treated this a bit like a full-time job working after hours and on her days off. She guestimates that she has at least 25 hours into its creation. It’s finished off with resin to protect the multi-layer collage. I LOVE it.

Navigating Maine

I stayed with my nautical theme of using a custom-printed nautical map on tissue paper. Painted a subtle blue, the tissue paper map is decoupaged and then finished off with multiple coats of polyurethane. The map features the waters of Milbridge and the Narraguagus River Bay east to South Addison and Wohoa Bay, capturing many of our coastal islands. 

Past Navigating Maine Items

• Coffee Table
• Christmas Tree Ornaments
• Bedside Table Make-over

Children’s Mud Kitchen

Paul has so much going on this summer with building Hannah’s house on wheels, I felt a bit guilty asking him to do anything more. Last year he built a Mud Kichen for our Milbridge Commons Wellness Park. He said he’d make another. And then he agreed to making two for me–one for the silent auction and one for the raffle auction. I think he has a hard time saying no to me. 😬

We modified the design a tiny bit from his first version and I added little bumble-bee cotton curtains to the window of this one and a hedge hog print on the other.

All of these items are viewable on WHRL’s auction site through July 28th. Stop by and take a look at the other fabulous items available (including a week’s stay at a restored villa in the South of France!)